Look, running a business today is mental. You're juggling a million things - customers moaning, products that need selling, staff causing drama, and on top of all that, you're supposed to somehow crack this digital marketing code. That's why loads of people hire a digital marketing strategist, but here's the thing - most folks don't have a bloody clue how to work with them properly.
I've seen it happen countless times. Some companies bring in a hotshot from a digital marketing agency or PPC agency, expecting magic to happen overnight. Six months later, they're scratching their heads wondering why their Instagram followers haven't translated into actual cash in the bank. The problem isn't usually the strategist - it's that nobody taught the business owner how to collaborate properly.
What Your Marketing Person Actually Does All Day
Right, let's clear something up straight away. Your digital marketing strategist isn't just some person who posts cute photos and writes witty captions. That's what your nephew does for pocket money. These professionals are more like digital detectives crossed with fortune tellers.
They spend their days digging through mountains of data, stalking your competitors online (legally, obviously), figuring out what makes your customers tick, and then piecing together strategies that actually bring in business. It's proper detective work, just with more spreadsheets and less dramatic music.
When businesses finally understand what their marketing person brings to the table, everything clicks. These experts analyse market trends, study competitor moves, examine customer patterns, and develop digital marketing solutions that turn browsers into buyers. It's not about pretty pictures - it's about psychology, timing, and knowing exactly where your ideal customers hang out online.
Actually Talking to Each Other
Here's where most partnerships go sideways - communication. Or rather, the complete lack of it. I've watched brilliant campaigns crash and burn because the business owner assumed their digital marketing strategist could somehow read their mind through badly written emails.
You need proper conversations. Not those awful Monday meetings where everyone's half asleep, but real chats about what's working, what's not, and where you want to take things. Pick your poison - phone calls, video chats, project management apps, even text messages if that works for you. Just stick with whatever you choose.
The businesses that smash it treat their digital marketing strategist like their mate who happens to be brilliant at marketing. They share everything - the wins, the disasters, the weird customer feedback, even those mad ideas that probably won't work but might be genius.
Making Communication Actually Work
Here's what separates the winners from the also-rans:
- Have regular catch-ups about numbers, not just when things go wrong
- Give feedback fast when they show you campaign ideas or creative stuff
- Share everything about your business - customer complaints, sales figures, what your competitors are up to
Setting Goals That Don't Live in Fantasy Land
Your digital marketing strategist can't wave a magic wand and make your website appear at the top of Google tomorrow. They can't turn your mediocre product into the next iPhone just by posting about it cleverly. Digital marketing takes time, patience, and goals that actually make sense.
Work together to create targets with real numbers and actual deadlines. Don't say "get more customers" - try "bring in 30 qualified leads per month through targeted PPC services and digital marketing solutions by the end of quarter two."
There's solid research showing businesses with specific goals are way more likely to succeed than those with vague wishes. Your marketing person can help translate your big dreams into achievable milestones that won't drive you both mentally.
Sharing Your Business Dirty Laundry
Your digital marketing strategist needs to know everything about your business. And when I say everything, I mean everything - who your customers really are, what keeps them awake at night, when your business gets crazy busy, what your competitors are doing wrong, why people choose you over the other guy.
Think about hiring a personal trainer. You wouldn't hide your dodgy knee or your chocolate addiction, would you? Your digital marketing consultant needs that same level of brutal honesty to create campaigns that work instead of just looking nice.
Companies that share comprehensive data with their marketing partners consistently outperform those who keep secrets. Your strategist can't hit targets they can't see.
Don't Hold Back on These Details
Time to spill the beans about these areas:
- Proper descriptions of your best customers and how they make decisions
- Brand guidelines, how you like to talk to customers, what messages matter most
- What your competitors do well and where they mess up completely
Trust vs Control - The Eternal Struggle
This is the tricky bit. You hired a digital marketing strategist because they know their stuff, but you still want to make sure everything sounds like your brand and won't scare away your customers. It's about finding that sweet spot between letting them do their job and keeping some control.
Don't hover over every single post or email they create. That's just annoying and defeats the point of hiring an expert in the first place. But absolutely review major campaigns before they go live. Your gut feeling about whether something will work with your customers is worth its weight in gold.
The best partnerships happen when both sides respect each other's expertise. You know your business and customers better than anyone. They know digital marketing better than you ever will. Combine those powers properly, and you're onto something special.
Numbers That Actually Matter
Writing and publishing is no longer necessary to count the number of likes in posts or the number of people who come to your site. If what you did resulted in those numbers, you will feel good but will they pay the bills? Pay attention to the metrics that will have a direct effect on your bank account - qualified leads, cost per customer acquisition, conversion rates, and ROI on the money spent on marketing.
Your digital marketing manager should provide regular reports that explain what these numbers mean for your business growth. Not just data dumps that look impressive but don't tell you anything useful. Real insights about what worked, what bombed, and how to do better next time.
Sorting Problems Before They Explode
Even brilliant partnerships hit rough patches. Budget cuts, timeline pressures, changing priorities - all this stuff creates tension between you and your marketing team. The secret is dealing with issues immediately instead of letting them fester like forgotten cheese in the back of your fridge.
Considering that you are both aiming at the same thing i.e. expansion of your business, in case of disagreement consider this. Your digital marketing strategist may also propose solutions that will feel costly or at best totally insane no matter how cost effective and practical they might be in the world pleasing to the strategist.
Questions Everyone Keeps Asking
What is digital marketing in SEO and how to start digital marketing?
Digital marketing through SEO is a practice of ensuring that your site is found when someone is searching products you trade. The best way to start doing digital marketing yourself is to first become familiar with your customers, craft attainable objectives, come up with content they are interested in reading, develop a gradual social media following, and after that, scale to paid advertisements and email marketing as soon as you find the right formula with your audience.
Is digital marketing apprenticeships worth it?
Digital marketing apprenticeship can be simply genius in building the career as you are earning and studying. You will have actual experience, come into contact with people in the industry, and obtain proper qualifications without being saddled with student debt. Depending on the programme quality, the mentor support and whether it aligns with your career plans, this may be worth it or not.
How long does it typically take to see results from digital marketing efforts?
It depends entirely on what you are doing. Paying for traffic and leads will come straight away with paid advertising, whereas SEO and content marketing plans require a minimum of 3-6 months before you start to see some significant organic traffic arriving.
What should I expect to pay for a digital marketing strategist?
Depending on your experience and location as well as what is required of you, prices differ massively. The rates of independent consultants range between 50-150 an hour and the packages at agencies range between 2000-10,000 a month, depending on contents and the scale of your business.
How do I know if my digital marketing strategist is delivering value?
Monitor the figures that really count to your organization - increased numbers enquiries of qualified type, increased conversion, search rank improvement, brand promotion. A steady improvement on your goals and honest communication and frequent updates will make you understand that you are getting good value for your finances.
Final Thoughts
Collaborating with a digital marketing strategist is not a complicated thing to do, and it will involve effort on all sides. Brilliant results are achieved through clear talking, realistic expectation, mutual trust and the ability to get better all the time. The situation can go on to astound everyone when business owners work in an effective partnership with their marketing professionals.
Your digital marketing strategist is your go to person for wading through the chaos of the online marketing world. Implement the following hands-on advice, keep the dialogue moving and you will establish a working partnership that allows correct business growth in this competitive digital marketplace.